


To Save The World

by AkariAikawa



Series: Save The World 'Verse [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fix-It, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Indulgent, Time Loop, Time Travel, actually beta'd, atleast thats what it starts off as, author likes using the paragraph breaks, first fic in this fandom please be nice to me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:54:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25646911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkariAikawa/pseuds/AkariAikawa
Summary: ‘O chosen one, come forth,To pull the strings of fate.’‘March with pride and honor, for none is lost.Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds.’‘Embrace your dreams,And a hero you shall be,’There isn't much left they could do, their efforts wasted time and time again. So a proposition was made,send someone back, they say, to prevent the catalyst that started it all.
Relationships: Angeal Hewley & Genesis Rhapsodos, Angeal Hewley & Genesis Rhapsodos & Sephiroth, Angeal Hewley & Sephiroth, Zack Fair & Angeal Hewley, eventual pairings - Relationship, just friendships for now
Series: Save The World 'Verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859305
Comments: 30
Kudos: 39





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *insert generic disclaimer* anyway! here we go! thank you to Teavat for beta-ing and overall being patient!! and also araleory for keeping up with my late-night discussions :), I hope everyone enjoys it!
> 
> Here's my take on a FFVII time-travel fic! I love how it's a theme on its own here, so I decided to have a go with it 'w'

Last he remembered was his protege crying for him, anger, grief, and deep sadness written on his face, and also desperation because he didn't get a choice in doing it. (which, as he thought about it later, with a clear mind, wasn't very honorable, no? struck down by his student - Angeal feels sorry about it, now.)

He’d been drifting in the Lifestream after that, unconscious and yet conscious at the same time (it was a weird feeling to explain, sort of like when you tune out during a meeting and daydream about being somewhere else. _There_ , but not quite properly _there_.). He has seen glimpses of what happened after his demise, though unable to move from where he is, so he observes from behind, becoming Zack’s shadow. He saw what happened to Sephiroth, in the reactor (he felt himself being pushed through his friend’s body by a blonde cadet, which shouldn’t be possible, right?)

Then he saw Zack die, laid down in the Wastes, sacrificing himself to save the blonde cadet who cried for him.

“My honor, my dreams, they’re yours now.”

Zack holds out the Buster Sword to the blonde (and suddenly it makes so much sense on why it feels odd - a symbol of honor and dreams indeed.) who accepts, face still not quite processing what happened. 

A distance away, Angeal suddenly feels himself leave the sword (it’s in capable hands, now.) and goes back to take Zack to the Lifestream to rest. (he’s far, far too young to be dead, but what happened, happened.)

He blinks, and he’s suddenly facing the ceiling, his alarm blaring on the bedside table. Dull lights seep through the curtains, signaling daybreak in Midgar. He’s lying down on something soft, the material and texture foreign after so long. 

He sits up, rubbing the comforter in his hands, grounding himself. (not much is known about the lifestream, last he heard, but he’s sure enough that the lifestream cannot replicate things this good.) feeling grounded enough, he shuts off the alarm, checking the time. ‘ _0647’_ , it read. (it looks a lot like the clock he had.)

He's not supposed to wake up after dying, right?

He does, though, and it feels wrong in a weird (good?) sort of way, because all of his pains and the cotton in his head are gone, just like that, and there's no wing in sight, either. He stumbles out of bed (a shift in this center of balance because of the absence of wings, probably.) and opens the door.

What greets him is the sight of his living room, his plants organized neatly by the windowsill. “What,” he asks, to no one in particular. (is this because of the mako in his body? Is he having a post-death hallucination?). He looks back to the room he exited from, confirming that it is his bedroom. Unsure what to do, he goes back and takes his PHS to check the date, then proceeds to sit down in one of the couches and flip it open. 

_[ μ ] - εγλ 0000, August 10_

The date doesn’t ring any bells for him, but the year does. _‘Wasn’t it around [ ν ] – εγλ 0001?’_ (but then again, he doesn’t know what date it is during Zack’s death, so it could be longer.). He shuts his PHS and relaxes into his couch, taking in the sight of his living room. His wall is decorated with pictures of the places he went to on his missions, the ones he brought from Banora, and also a few he took with Genesis and Sephiroth. It’s all exactly the way he left it, which answers none of his questions. (okay, it answers _where_ , he has to admit, but that’s it.)

He grabs the nearest one by the coffee table, tracing the frame with his hand. It was a photo of the 3 of them, just promoted to First Class. They went out to a bar in Sector 5 that night, celebrating until dawn came. It’d been a long time since then.

He misses them, dearly so. But now…

A thought crosses his mind. ‘ _I could save them…’_ He realizes. If this was all real, he could. He thinks back to Zack’s death, Sephiroth’s descent to madness and Genesis’ degradation. He could change it all, prevent it from happening. Should he? Is it honorable to change something that has been set in stone? Wouldn’t it be disrespectful to fate itself?

His PHS beeps. Storing the thoughts for later, he places the picture back to its spot and flips open his PHS and clicks on the notification. Oh, right, work. He’s expected at the SOLDIER floor in half an hour from now. He’s going to be questioned if he isn’t there, so he makes his way to the bathroom to get ready. (and after fumbling around in the fridge, finds some leftovers for breakfast.)

* * *

He stares at himself in the mirror, not quite believing what he’s seeing. He knows he’s been standing there for the past ten minutes, more because of disbelief more than anything.

He looks older, sure, but for the most part, he _seems_ to be healed of whatever effects J-cells had on him. (the absence of wings, the lack of presence in the back of his mind, the fact that he doesn’t feel like he wants to burn a town or ten. Maybe there’s still something, but it felt as if he’s been cleansed.) The signs of it ever happening is there, from the wrinkles on his face and a few hair strands of grey (like five strands at most, Angeal counted), not that noticeable unless you knew where to look, except the scar across his right eyebrow, which his student inflicted. He traces another scar from his shoulder to around his torso with his bare hand, no doubt the blow that ended him. 

He pinches his arm again for good measure, and yes, it still hurts, so this situation being a dream is a slim chance now. (and just maybe, something or someone brought him back here to right all the wrongs. But who?)

Angeal sighs. Genesis would’ve been more suited for this, so why him but not the guy who wanted to be the hero so badly?

So he does what he can only think of doing right now, which is going to the SOLDIER floor for that meeting. It is a good dream (hallucination, anything to describe this situation.), and better not go to waste because good ones come few and far between.

* * *

"My friend, are you ill?" Genesis asks, sometime around lunch. "You don't seem yourself today." (He glances at the scar across Angeal's eyebrow for a split second, mentally swearing that it wasn't there yesterday.)

Angeal raised an eyebrow at that. "Didn't think you'd worry for your friends." he teased lightly, eyes never leaving him. (Observing, even. Is he trying to avert the topic?)

He scoffed at that. "Of course I care, do you really think of me that low?” (definitely trying to avert it, then.)

Seeing as Angeal doesn’t have anything else to say after that, he decides to ask. “Where did you get that scar from?” he subtly gestures to his friend’s eyebrow, where the scar is. (SOLDIERs rarely scar, something about the mako healing them so quickly that it forgoes the scar phase.)

His childhood friend suppresses a flinch, face unreadable. “I..got it on a mission last week.” he supplies, tone unwilling to elaborate further than that. 

“ _Ripples form on the water’s surface, the wandering soul knows no rest.”_ Genesis quips, which meant something like ‘you’re not willing to tell and I think it’d be a moot point if I continued on it.’

“Yeah,” He replies, and they finished up not long after that.

* * *

“Angeal!” Zack greets, bouncing out of his seat in the lounge, running over to Angeal. His mentor looks up from where he is, sitting with hands clasped together. “Zack.” He replies, giving him a once-over.

Or perhaps, several once-overs. Many-overs. Zack tilts his head like a confused puppy. “Sir?” he prods. No response. Is Angeal okay? And he’s always the one telling him to stay focused. He bounces from one leg to another, unsure of what to do. Is it something he did? 

Eyes widening, he remembered something. “I-I wasn’t the one who changed the coffee to decaf in the cafeteria, I swear!” 

Angeal blinks, shaking his head. “You didn’t,” He affirms. Getting up, he squeezes Zack’s shoulder before letting go. “Meet me in the training room in 10 minutes.” He orders, then the burly First leaves.

The Second Class looked at his mentor’s retreating back, confused. Didn’t he say last week that they’d go on a mission today?

* * *

“There are a few things you need to go over here,” Angeal enters, paperwork in hand. He thrusts it to Sephiroth, who accepts. (oddly domestic, considering that he has probably seen the man well on his way to insanity sometime ago before arriving in the past)

Sephiroth sighs, scanning the offending document in disdain. (does everything _really_ need his approval?) He skims through the papers, shuffling them under his gaze. A few moments later, he hands it back to Angeal.

“You got the year wrong,” He states, eyeing Angeal’s eyebrow for a split-second. (do people forget what _year_ it is sometimes?)

Angeal’s eyes widen for a second, shuffling through the papers again. “Oh, yeah.” He answers, retreating back to his office to fix his mistake. Sephiroth raises an eyebrow in confusion. (he knows he can just white-out the year and fix it right here instead of going back to his own office, right?)

He looks at Genesis, half-sprawled on his office couch, _Loveless_ clutched on the redheaded’s chest. “People don’t just forget the year, right?”

“No,” Genesis answered, looking over where Angeal was. “They don’t.”

* * *

He doesn’t even realize a week has passed.

“Just one spar before I go on that mission.” Genesis urged them, off-hours. They were at Sephiroth’s quarters, just after dinner. (Genesis was scheduled for a week-long mission tomorrow, some PR mission he swiped the moment it appeared.)

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready, then?” Angeal countered, not wanting to leave the couch. (it’s all oddly familiar, like something important was going to happen soon.)

“I don’t see why not.” Sephiroth pitched in, followed by a look that said ‘ _See, even Seph wants to!’_ from the redhead.

Angeal stayed quiet, the coffee table suddenly becoming very interesting. (its _the_ spar, Isn’t it? he doesn’t want to let this happen again, and it’s not like he can just say it out loud. Should he stop this from happening? But how? Would they even believe him? Is doing it even allowed?)

(maybe he shouldn’t. He’ll go with it, for now.)

“Is something the matter?” Sephiroth asks, concerned. “You’ve been...out of sorts lately.” his eyes shift away, unsure what to do past that.

He looked up at that. (is he really that obvious? Deep down, he wants to tell them everything, how it all started, how he died, how they split apart, in the end. Even Sephiroth is asking, now, but what does he tell?)

“It’s nothing,” came the reply. “Just been thinking about things, lately.” 

“ _Ripples form on the water's surface.”_ Genesis huffed. “ _The wandering soul knows no rest.”_

“Act I.” Sephiroth supplied. “A spar would help you clear your mind,” he suggested.

He couldn’t object to that. (he _could,_ but it would raise suspicion because he never objects to sparring.)

(it wouldn't be honorable to refuse, either.)

So they did and went to the Training Room.

‘ _is it really that unavoidable?’_ Angeal asks himself as he watches the shrapnel of the blade embed itself into Genesis’ shoulder again. He watched it in slow motion, unable to do anything about it. Sephiroth stilled, just like last time. Should’ve he used his Buster Sword instead? But use brings about wear, tear, and rust, so he’s left to question his beliefs.

* * *

He gets up the next day, exhausted and nauseous from last night’s spar, alarm a dull tone instead of the usual blaring. He eyes the Buster Sword from where he left it last night by his bed, only to find nothing. Rubbing sleep off his eyes, he gets out of bed, then looks down at the lack of clothes on the floor. (he left them here last night after the spar, too exhausted to care. He doesn’t remember putting them away, however.)

Confused, the First makes his way to his living room, spotting the Buster Sword by the couch. He releases a sigh of relief, knowing that he didn’t just went and lost his family’s heirloom. He goes back to shut off his alarm after that, thankful that today is his day off. He’d be very late if it wasn’t. (there’s a sinking feeling that something is happening today, though.)

He goes over to his plants, illuminated softly by the sun lamp perched nearby. They were arranged neatly by Angeal’s windowsill, overlooking Midgar. He tended over his plants with trained, careful hands.

“Weren’t you budding yesterday?” Angeal asked his windflower, its leaves rustling softly under his palm. The flower in question doesn’t answer, so he continues to water his tiny garden. (perhaps the bud dropped somewhere?)

It was, overall, a very peaceful morning. (he’d go now, but he’s not ready to face it again, knowing he can do nothing about what has happened. he’ll ask about Genesis’s shoulder later, knowing that it won’t heal.)

* * *

The peace was broken a few hours later, with Angeal nursing his morning coffee, wearing a sweater and sweatpants. He sipped on it slowly, wanting to get his mind _away_ from what happened last night. (so even now, he’s still failed to protect the people he loves. Genesis is well on his way to degrading and he did nothing to stop it. Was it really an honorable choice? What does he do _now?_ )

His train of thought is interrupted as said redhead barges in, door slamming (and thankfully not off its hinges this time - he remembers a time where he had to call for repairs 3 times in a week.) with Rapier in hand, and firaga on the other. 

Angeal, on instinct, backs away immediately, with the coffee mug being held threateningly (or as threatening as a coffee mug can be, really.)

Genesis, taking sight of his childhood friend unharmed, lowers his weapon and deactivates his firaga, giving him a _look_. “You missed today’s meeting,” he states as if he didn’t look ready to burn the place down several seconds ago.

Said friend lowered his mug, placing it on the table with a ‘ _clunk’,_ then raised an eyebrow in question. “What meeting?” 

“The one scheduled for today!”

“It’s Saturday.”

Genesis did a double-take at that. “Have you bothered to check your PHS?” he asked instead, giving him another _‘are you sure?’_ look.

Said First sighs, resigned, and decides to play along with it for now. “I’ll go get dressed,” he replies instead, heading for his bedroom to do so. Genesis watched Angeal’s retreating back as he sheathed Rapier, doing a once-over before heading out. “ _The wind sails over the water's surface_ ,” he recites softly, but enough for Angeal to hear. “ _Quietly, but surely.”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which things start again, and not much else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy uh late christmas gift. honestly i had this chapter done since,, months,, ago,,, but I kept rewriting it because I hated how much of a filler chapter this is (I'm sorry). i DID NOT abandon this work though I assure you I just have a lot of things in my mind now

Shortly after Genesis leaves, Angeal goes to check his PHS by the bedside table before doing anything else. _Something_ must've happened if the date isn't what it seems to be.

_[ μ ] - εγλ 0000, August 10_

The dark-haired First frowns at the date, thinking. (It’s supposed to be the 17th, and yet it isn’t.) He stores the information for later, deciding it would be best to check on other things first before concluding.

Scrolling through his logs, he’s greeted with the meeting notice Genesis informed him earlier, at least _16_ missed calls from the same man, one from Lazard, and one short, but effective _‘are you alright?’_ from Sephiroth. He types in a response for him but decides to go against it, since he’s going to the briefing room anyway. 

Clipping Buster Sword on his back, he makes his way out. Better get this over with.

* * *

“Ah, Angeal,” Lazard greets the moment he steps into the room. “Glad you could join us today.” 

Genesis sat to the left of Lazard, glancing at him. Sephiroth sat on the opposite side, gaze calculating. With a nod, he regarded the greeting, and the meeting commenced.

* * *

The meeting had been about the preparations to invade Fort Tamblin, which was _precisely_ what was discussed last week. The curious looks he’d gotten during the meeting when he mentioned a few things that might have not been discussed yet didn’t help much either. (he probably should’ve stayed quiet like when he first arrived here, too much in shock to say anything.)

If they wanted to ask about his sudden gift for oversight, they didn’t mention it. 

Genesis confronts him after the meeting, though, with Sephiroth trailing close by, expression unreadable. His childhood friend gives him a once-over, glaring at him, “Care to explain?” he asks simply.

“I just woke up late,” He answers. (that is a half-truth, he did wake up a bit late.)

The redhead looked ready to retort, but Sephiroth beats him to it. “You’re never unpunctual,” he points out, gaze calculating. “Unless you’re unwell,” he adds a moment later.

“I’m perfectly fine,” Angeal cuts in before it continued. “How’s your shoulder anyway?” he asks instead to his childhood friend, shifting uncomfortably when Genesis replies with a look. Sephiroth shifts his gaze to the redhead as if he’s been left out on something important.

“ _Infinite in mystery…_ It’s fine,” Genesis answers, deciding to amuse his friend with one, albeit a bit snappish. “and frankly, I don’t recall _anything_ happening to it as of late. You, on the other hand…”

Angeal, on the other hand, had just realized something. (The date, his PHS, that meeting earlier, Odin, _the injury_ \- He feels himself connect the dots, so it hasn’t happened yet. _It hasn’t happened yet._ By Gaia or whatever being that placed him here, he’s repeating this.)

(Which means he did something wrong along the way to warrant that. But what?)

* * *

“I’m going out on a mission today!” Zack exclaims, slinging an arm around Kunsel and pumping a fist up. “I’m free!”

“You’ve been given the all-clear?” Kunsel clarifies, sounding amused. (And just yesterday he’d been woozy in bed after the Mako treatments needed for the promotion. then again, Zack has always been overly energetic..)

The newly-minted Second Class beams, giving him a thumbs up. “They said to take it easy for now, with the after-effects and everything,” leading him through the corridor, he added, “Did’ ya miss me?”

“As if.”

“Awww Kuns!” Zack mock-pouted, looking directly at Kunsel. “So, anything interesting while I was away?” he asked instead, still giving his friend puppy-eyes unintentionally. (thank Minerva he was wearing a helmet, or Zack would notice the grin tugging his lips at that.)

“Well, there was this-” The helmeted Second started to explain, but stopped when Zack’s mentor came into view. He straightened immediately, saluting. “Commander Hewley!” he greeted at the same time as Zack called out. “Angeal!”

“At ease, SOLDIER,” The Commander addressed to him, before addressing his mentee. “Zack, ready to go?”

"Sure I am!" The spiky Second Class replied, putting a hand on his sword's hilt before letting go. "Where are we going?"

"Monster extermination in the Sector 5 slums." Angeal answers, checking on the mission logs again just to make sure (and it's reverted to this week too, which just solidifies his conclusion earlier.)

"awww," Zack mock-pouts, looking up at his mentor (and indirectly giving him his signature 'puppy eyes'. Gaia, was his student always this endearing?) "That's all?"

(Still, Zack was freshly off from promotion shots, right?) "Take it easy, pup." 

"Yeah, yeah," he shrugged the advice, looking incredibly eager to take a running start. "Let's go!"

* * *

The train trip to Sector 5 was quiet, other than the usual chatter in the car and Zack twitching beside him, unable to keep perfectly still. He looks at the other passengers, a businessman on the phone, a young woman staring listlessly to the window behind him. Angeal ponders. silently, where even after everything happened, life still went on.

(it just comes to show how insignificant he is.)

He clears the thought in mind, focusing himself to look at Zack as he is currently, and not the one he left the world with. His left is open (again), and he puts too much effort into bringing down his blade, likely due to adjusting, but he takes note of it anyway and tells his student just that.

"You also need to have-"

"Dreams and honor to maintain as SOLDIER, right?" Zack cuts in, a proud smile in his face. "See, I remembered!" he idly rubbed the back of his head, sheepish.

Angeal suppresses a flinch at his own words said back to him, only just barely (had he really been that proud?). "...I meant to address your lack of awareness for your surroundings," he stated instead, gesturing to the sword marks the spiky-haired Second left while cleaning up. "But yes, that is something to keep in mind too."

He barely registered the mock-salute his student gave him, as something felt close like it was practically calling him there. Well, not _that_ close as he trailed off a few pathways, letting his feet lead him to whatever was making him move. Zack fell behind his mentor in a few quick strides, curious. “Sir?” he tried to call out. 

Just as quick as it arrived, the presence left him. Angeal blinked, stunned. There was something that was pulling him earlier, and now it was gone. He looked at his side, where Zack was looking up at him like a concerned puppy. The Second tilted his head, equally confused with the situation. "You okay right there?" his student asked warily.

Well, in retrospect, nothing actually happened, other than the weird presence overtaking him. ( _'no, not yet'._ )

Unbeknownst to them, the church stands behind them, its doors closing with a barely audible creak. 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still on non-scheduled updates, but I hope to get the next one out before valentines  
> also I read your comments before I start writing every time and it gives me a bit of hope that my writing isn't that bad so, thanks ;w;


	3. 3.0: Ad Infinitum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It begins. Over, and over, and over again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> beta'd by Rayvenstorm!
> 
> ..I'm sorry this came out 2 weeks late than the expected date. I underestimated my schedule by a lot. This chapter was supposed to be longer, but then you would also wait even longer and I feel guilty so chapters will be numbered with 3.0, 3.1, all the way to chapter 4. I hope you'll be patient with me ;w;

The planet forms a contract with the rivers of life itself, and waits. 

The earth is evened, yet the water remembers and flows down.

* * *

The week passes by without a hitch, as time before a disaster does. A fleeting thought makes him think why The Planet sent him to a period without anything happening, other than the spar by the end of the week, instead of just the day itself. 

After sorting out his office, he makes his way out. It’s earlier than he usually would check out of work, but it’s a Friday night, and his friends are waiting for him. The fleeting thought turns into a question, and he ends up thinking about it on the elevator up. (A traitorous voice makes its way to his mind, whispering ‘ _even with a week in hand, you still couldn’t prevent it, could you?)_

* * *

_How are you so sure that your humanity does not erode with every iteration?_

_Who are you to fight the god of time?_

_You’re a traitor, a traitor_

_To go against_

_The predetermined._

* * *

He rejects his offer for a spar this time, even after multiple attempts of persuasion, saying ‘ _for once, you can go all out, right?’_ with such a mirthless chuckle one would assume there was a story behind it. The two shrug it off, and Angeal sees them off at his doorstep before wrapping up for the night. (If there was something wrong with him, they didn’t say it.)

He thinks he’s done it right.

The PHS on his bedside table that reads _[ μ ] - εγλ 0000, August 10_ says otherwise.

So he gets up, and does it all over again.

* * *

“Angeal!” Zack bounces up to him, all sunshine and all that is good in the world, and he can’t help but smile back, and take him out to the Wastes. Only when he checks the mission again does he realize he’d accidentally booked a First-Class mission for his student, and silently curses himself, applying what Independent Materia he has in hand to Zack’s equipment before giving it back to him.

They pass by the place where the future Zack died, and Angeal stops on his tracks. His protege stands behind curiously, trying to see what he’s seeing.

“It’s fine,” he answers after a moment of silence, meeting Zack’s concerned eyes, his own blinking away the images of the Second’s death behind his eyes, and reminds himself he’s there for a reason, before making his way back to where they parked their motorbike.

Then, he clears off the rest of Zack’s week and focuses himself on other things.

* * *

Angeal barely waits for the ‘ _Come in!’_ from within Genesis’ office before letting himself in and shutting the door with an audible click between them.

“My, my, impatient, are we?” The redhead smirks, the expression dropping when he realizes that his childhood friend is serious. “Is this about the 4 PM meeting or the upcoming coffee break?”

The brunette mulls over the words for a moment, before realizing it wouldn’t matter which, but he does need information _now._ “Coffee break.” He answers after a short moment, and Genesis pulls out a jammer and quickly casts Silence and Barrier around them.

“So?” he gives the ‘okay’ after he makes sure the spells and the jammer are in place, double-checking soon after just to make sure.

“What do you know about time looping?” he asks as soon as his friend’s eyes lock with his.

Genesis shoots him an incredulous look, and Angeal sighs. “Humor me.”

The redhead looks at the materia in his hand, the jammer by his side, and shoots him another _look._ Well, Angeal has always been bad at lying, but the way his eyes shift to the side, filled with so much emotion, makes him think that there's so much more than just a curious question.

“This...is the third time I’ve lived through this week,” Angeal admits with a straight face, but all Genesis can see is how _tired_ his friend is behind the eyes, his shoulders slumped instead of his usual straight, rigid, _solid_ posture, and wonders if it’s so much more than that.

Instead, he gives a smile, unlike the cruel smirks and the sneers, but the ones reserved for certain people, and replies,

“Let me help.”

* * *

Admittedly, there isn’t much information between them, and what information they have about Time Materia and its effects is just a scrape off the surface.

"Are you _sure_ you remember _nothing_ before the loop started?" Genesis asks again for the third time, pacing back and forth in his office. Back and forth. Back and forth.

Angeal tries to think back to before he traveled back, to the hazy pieces of might-be memories of what tatters of his spirit that latched on to the living, and finds exactly what his friend said: Nothing.

"After the spar I mentioned earlier, I just come back here every time," he trails off, uncertain. "Maybe it was something with the spar." he ends his words there, keeping his tone wary yet not letting the _knowing_ slip through. There.

Back and forth.

The redhead doesn't pick up on it, thankfully. "Then we won't spar this week," He says instead, voice final.

If he had any doubts that his friend was lying, it was gone the moment he told some of the events that were going to play out this week. Any moment now, he'd get a notification for the week-long mission scheduled on Saturday.

(He had also been itching for a spar this week, to test his skills again against Sephiroth with the new combination of Materia he thought about sometime ago, but he isn't going to say that now.)

"What about Sephiroth?" Angeal voices out, eyebrows furrowed.

"Do you want to tell him?"

A pause. "Next time."

* * *

It's Sephiroth who offers a spar this time, instead of Genesis.

The redhead sends him a knowing look for a second, then he sighs and kindly declines the offer, him following suit.

The silver-haired man raises an eyebrow, but doesn't push the matter further. It _has_ been a long week.

* * *

The planet forms a contract with the rivers of life itself, and waits. 

The earth is evened, yet the water _snarls,_ remembers, then flows down.

* * *

A Wutai ambush happens in the dead of the night at Shinra HQ, and a certain First Class SOLDIER is reported to be mildly injured.

The wound does not heal. 

* * *

Angeal wakes up to the morning of [ μ ] - εγλ 0000, August 10.

He gets up, and does it all over again.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shorter chapters might mean shorter wait time, and hopefully, there won't be a repeat of the wait time between chapter 1 and 2 ;w;
> 
> once again, no promise for when this updates, but this will never be abandoned.
> 
> also!! Ever Crisis and Yuffie DLC!!! can't wait to see what that's all about *eyes emoji*
> 
> (once again, sorry for the short chapter!)

**Author's Note:**

> you can follow me on [Tumblr!](https://akariwrites.tumblr.com/)
> 
> edit (4x): link is now working thanks to a friend!


End file.
